Love this club

NYRB draftee Christianson excels in pre-season debut

Ian Christianson was superb in his offseason debut for New York Red Bull on the weekend.

The 21-year old defensive midfielder, who was taken with pick 22 in the MLS SuperDraft, scored in the 2-0 victory over Columbus Crew on Saturday and was praised by head coach Mike Petke for his performance.

"We knew the type of player we got in Ian. This is just one game, though; we're not going to start handing out awards. But it was encouraging to see," said Petke.

"He was getting his head up, he was switching the point of play, he wasn't nervous or rattled, he sat in his position very well. That's encouraging. It's something you can look at the future and say we have something here, we have a starting point."

About the author

Andrew Slevison is an avid sports fan, particularly of the world game. The Melbourne, Australia native, who has spent time living in London and travelling South America, takes a keen interest in the English Premier League and Major League Soccer and rates his best live footballing moment as the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil.